Material for the treatment of hydrocarbons



Patented Aug. 9, 1927.

' UNITED S teaaozz orFc ALEXANDER 3. WAY, OF LYNN, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR TO LEWIS A. WAY, OF

PITTSBURGH, PENNSYLVANIA.

MATERIAL FOR THE TREATMENT OF HYDROCARBON S.

No Drawing.

ter of the present invention is susceptible of use in the treatment of hydrocarbons of numerous grades and of varying condition.

Oils of the grades used in oil burners and the like are especially subject to separation of their heavier components when permitted to stand-in containers for storage or transportation, or in service tanks for supplying the fuel to the point of their combustion. This separation usually results in the collection of a slime, comprising heavy sludge, separated carbon, or other relatively dense substances, at the bottom of the tank or container. Such condition results in the loss of combustible material, and also in the fouling of cleaning screens and meters during utilization of the oils.

Any oil when stored or transported tends to receiveand form an emulsion with water, which may leak into the tank or container, be absorbed from the moisture of the atmosphere, or enter the body of the oil at some preliminary stage during its production or treatment. Such emulsion tends to prevent the .redissolution of heavier separated components of the oil, because of the formation of the minute globules of the emulsion. The surface tension of such globules prevents their breaking up to release the oil, and prevents redissolution of the separated heavier components of the oil.

One object of the present invention is therefore to provide a'material which when added to a hydrocarbon oil serves to reduce the surface tension of the globules of any emulsion present, and permits both the removal of the water of such emulsion and the redissolution of separated heavier components of the oil.

Another object of the invention is to provide a material capable of producing the above effect without the necessity for raising the temperature of the oil to such point as to cause the 'loss of any portion or components thereof through distillation or cok- %lertain grades of oil, moreover, which are incapable of combustion in burners or the like because of their thickness and lack of fluidity, may be rendered fluid and usable by .undesirable end products,

Application filed March 19, 1924. Serial No. 700,382.'

reducing their viscosity with the material of the present invention. Likewise the heaviest tars may be broken up by treatment with the material, and rendered sufiiciently fluid to permit their removal from storage tanks and containers.

Lubricating oils may be .rendered more efiicient by treatment with the material of the invent-ion.

' A probable explanation of the improvement in the quality of lubricating oil lies in the fact that the material causes the oil to assume the state of a true solution. Even relatively small quantities of the oil, when allowed to stand, tend to stratify. In such stratified condition the. heavier components of the oil are not in a true solution in the lighter components, but are rather in a colloidal or semi-colloidal condition. The material of the present invention serves to change the colloidal system to one of true solution, thereby lowering the viscosity of the oil. It will be readily seen that this function is a complement to the function of demulsifying an emulsified ,oil. Smaller quantities of an oil of given viscosity may therefore be employed to provide an adequate lubricating film, and the life of the lubricant is increased. Cylinder oil for internal combustion engines, when treated with the material, causes less deposit of carbon than when untreated and has less tendency to thicken and gum in col weather than untreated oil of equal lubricating value but greater viscosity.

When utilized in a cracking still for the production of gasoline or other light hydrocarbon products, the addition of the material of the present invention serves to reduce the end point of the gasoline of any particular specific gravity. That is it lowers the temperature necessary to pass over gasoline or other products of a given gravity. Conversely it diminishes the formation of such as petroleum coke.

. Such effect may also be attributed to the fact that the material diminishes the vapor tension of the hydrocarbons.

A specific formula for the material ma be given as follows: Naphthalene (C Hj by volume 95%, nitrobenzol (C H ;,NO by volume 5.%.

v In this formula the naphthalene, which is naphthalene is preferably cut and screened, and a portion thereof further granulated a crystalline hydrocarbon, absorbs the nitro- Such solid mixture may be desirably in divided form. To secure such form the prior to the incorporation of the nitro-benzol. In practice it is found convenient to use approximately seventy-five parts of the flake naphthalene to twenty-five parts of the granulated naphthalene.

If the mixture is to be employed to produce the breaking up and redissolution of a heavy slime, such as slud e or tar, such sediment is first covered witli a relatively'large volume of oil in fluid condition, and the treating mixture added to this initial hydrocarbon mixture. carbon the treating material is preferably added in a quantity of from 0.5 pound to 1.5 pounds to each 500 gallons of the mixture of sediment andoil. This mass, con sisting of the sediment, oil, and treating mixture is subjected to gentle heating, and maintained at a tem erature of from one hun-- dred degrees Fa renheit to two hundred. de-

grees Fahrenheit for a period of from one hour to eighteen hours. The duration of the treatment depends upon the nature of the initial hydrocarbon to be treated, the rate of dispersion of the treating material through this initial h drocarbon, and the length of time required to exhaust the treating material.

When the treating material has been exhausted, another charge may be added, and the gentle heating continued until exhaustion of such second charge. In certain instances a third treatment may prove desirable.

.the initial hydrocarbon to be treated may If an oil having no appreciable quantity of sediment associated therewith is to be treated simply to 'demulsify such oil and to generally improve its qualities, the general nature of the treatment is identical with that given above. In such case, however, a single charge of the mixture is generally sufiicient v to produce the desired result. The quantity of the mixture with relation to the volume of also be greatly reduced.

In either of the cases noted above, water separated by the demulsification of the oil is drawn ofi prior to use of the oil.

If an oil is to be treated to generally improve its qualities, without the necessity for demulsification of such oil, the quantity of the mixture employed may be still further reduced.

Not only the quantity of the mixture employed, but also the relative proportions of its in edients, may be desirably varied in a'ccor ance with the work to be done. Thus for the breaking up of heavy tars, to increase With such initial hydrotheir fluidity, one pound of the mixture is preferably added for each two hundred and fifty to three hundred gallons of the tar; and the nitro-benzol content may be increased to as much as ten per cent by volume of the entire mixture.

To consider the different-ingredients of the mixture, the nitro-benzol (or its equivalent) erforms the chief active function in break- ;ing down the globules of an emulsion, decreasing the vapor tension ofa body of hydrocarbon, and diminishing the viscosity thereof. The naphthalene (or its equivalent) assistsv to some extent in performing these functions, and also serves as a convenient carrier for the other ingredients, whereby they may be conveniently stored and transported and may be distributed through the hydrocarbon body to be treated. As to equivalent, or substitute, substances in the mixture, anthracene (C I-I which is a crystalline hydrocarbon resembling naphthalene in its physical properties, may be used to take the place of the latter.

As an equivalent for the nitro-benzol, another nitrated member of the aromatic series of hydrocarbons, such as (C H CH NO may be emplo ed.

Whereas these alternative su stances serve to impart the desired useful properties to the mixture, the substances included in the formula given above are preferred because of the fact that they are in more common use or because of the fact that they are moi'e readily produced on a commercial see c.

nitrotoluol It is also possible to employ nitro-naphthalene or nitro-anthracene, which are themselves nitrated compounds of hydrocarbons derived from the same source as the ar0 matic series of hydrocarbons, namely from the distillation of coal. These compounds may either one be used with either the nitrobenzol or nitro-toluol of the formula.

Favorable, though less satisfactory, re-

sults have-been obtained by using eithernitro-naphthalene or nitro-anthracene alone. Benzaldehyde may be used to replace the nitro-benzol or nitro-toluol, thou h not with wholly satisfactory results. Mlrbane may also -be similarly used. It should be noted that this oil, though an essential oil of vegetable origin, closely resembles nitro-benzol both in chemical structure and in characteristics.

It will be seen from the above that the particular substances noted in the formula, as well as the relative proportions of such substances, may be varied within the scope of the disclosure and the appended claims without departing from the spirit of the present invention.

It is also to be noted that all substances noted are organic compounds. When used for the treatment of hydrocarbons, they therefore leave no incombustible residue as do inorganic treating materials such as aluminum chloride, and the like.

What I claim is:

1. As an article of manufacture for the treatment of hydrocarbons to demulsify the same and increase their fluidity, a material comprising naphthalene, and a nitrated aromatic hydrocarbon in theprimary stage of nitration associated with the naphthalene as the principal active agent of the material.

2. As an article of manufacture for the treatment of hydrocarbons to same and increase their fluidity, a material comprising naphthalene and nitrobenzol associated with the naphthalene as the prin-- cipal active agent of the material.

demulsify thehand. 1

ALEXANDER B. WAY. 

